First Class 707 delivered to South West Trains

Siemens has delivered the first Class 707 train for operator South West Trains to Clapham to undergo a final phase of testing.

Two five-car trains will begin testing in January in anticipation of the start of passenger service in April.

Like the new Thameslink fleet, the Class 707 is based on the Desiro City platform. Unlike the Class 700s, the EMUs for South West Trains aren’t being supplied with Automatic Train Operation (ATO). They will, however, have a free open Wi-Fi network for passengers.

Although testing has already been carried out at Siemens’ factory in Krefeld and the Wildenrath test track, a final test phase is required on the South West Trains network.

Christian Roth, managing director of South West Trains, said: “It is fantastic to see the first of our new trains arrive on our network.

“They are a vital part of the Waterloo & South West Upgrade, which will provide a 30 per cent increase in capacity for passengers during the busiest times of the day.”

All 30 trains of the fleet are due to be in service by November 2017. A major upgrade of Waterloo station is being carried out alongside the introduction of the new fleet.

Network Rail is reinstating platforms 20 to 24 of the former Waterloo International Terminal and extending platforms one to four to accommodate 10-car trains.

2 COMMENTS

Looks like SWT passengers are finally to benefit from direct change at Waterloo international platforms, this is far better use of taxpayer’s money than HS2. I’m glad they decided to fit wi-fi too, why would they use this space for ATO on the Cl 700?

Most of the Class 707’s are to operate on London Waterloo-Windsor & Eton Riverside replacing the Class 458’s for Reading service and Class 450’s for other routes with some Class 707’s to operate on Hounslow Loop and Weybridge. So far only 4 Class 707’s have been delivered but more are to be delivered from next year with the Class 707’s to start service from Spring or in Summer.